I have good health insurance, but still resist going to the doctor out of fear of debt entrapment. It is paranoia, but looking at other people, the fear takes hold of me. I fear poverty more than death, because life without the nice things ain’t worth living with.

It is good(?) that he released capable workers from federal service…so that they can serve someplace more democratic. The more that Yarvin’s Cabal undercut their own competency and reinforces the good guys, the better it is for the free world.

Personally, I find that for (local AI), the recently released 111b Command-A is pretty good. It actually grasps the concepts of the dice odds that I set up for a D&D-esque JRPG style. Still too slow on mere gamer hardware (DDR4 128gb + RX 4090) to be practical, but still an impressive improvement.

Sadly, Cohere is located in the US. On the other paw, they operate in California and New York from my brief check. This is good, that means it less likely for them to obey Trump’s stupidity.

While I do prefer absolute free speech for individuals, I have no illusions about what Trump is saying behind closed doors: “Make it like me, and everything that I do.” I don’t want an government to decide for me and others what is right.

Also, science, at least the peer reviewed stuff, should be considered free of bias. Real world mechanics, be it physics or biology, can’t be considered biased. We need science, because it makes life better. A false science, such as phrenology or RFK’s la-la-land ravings, needs to be discarded because it doesn’t help anyone. Not even the believers.

He died before he could see Reconstruction through, and his successor killed it.

Mind, Lincoln should have mass executed all significant leaders in the south. Offering mercy to those of a Nazi bearing always ends up damaging society. Better to put them down, rather than letting the infection fester.

“Yes.” Regarding historical periods is my answer. Particularly, a series of history books called “The Cartoon History of the Universe”. Each volume has at least 300 pages, and they are quite large. There is about five books in the mainline series, plus another dedicated to American history.

They were what taught me to enjoy history in general. Humorous, lewd, bloody, with interesting trivia. The only downside is that scientific facts tend to be dated, on account of the series being started in the late 80’s or early 90’s.

I think the issue in America, is that the Constitution only addressed political power, but failed to account for fiscal strength. Money is inherently a thing that manipulates the fates of individuals, companies, and nations alike. By not setting down rules, limitations, and expectations regarding economics, the Founding Fathers allowed a key form of power go unaddressed.

The vast majority of Project 2025’s major backers are wealthy people, who have far beyond what any normal person can ever hope to possess. This imbalance means that workers have to sacrifice much time, money, and energy to be barely heard on a single issue, while a rich person can just hire experts to massage every aspect of their many messages and to deliver it everywhere with a mighty voice.

IMO, we will need a Constitution v2.0 that fixes not only assorted political flaws like the voting system, but also prevents wealth from being a microphone that only a few can afford.